A curious oil immersion bottle

[apochronaut]

This came with an older B & L research microscope, about 10 years ago, I think. It is a silver oil immersion bottle with a porcupine quill as a dipper. The bottle is branded Bausch & Lomb but a close look at the logo shows an equilateral prism, similar to what became the B & L logo of the future but it is divided into three equal sections : one for B & L, one for Z and one for S. The other two were Zeiss and Saegmuller. B & L had absorbed Saegmuller, an astronomical & geo instrument maker as of 1908 and owned Zeiss interests in North America. There was intent to take over Zeiss in Jena as well but the company had been established as a permanent entity under German law by Ernst Abbe. The composite firm was known as The Triple Alliance under which B & L marketed some Zeiss designs in North America. Of particular value were Zeiss porro-abbe prism binoculars, which Zeiss held a patent on and B & L had exclusive rights to. The arrangement was ended by W.W. I. but B & L continued to make porro-abbe prism binoculars , without which the Allied Powers would have been s.o.l.

[Hobbyst46]

Wow!
Pic no. 2540 in particular is very impressive!
Wonder if there is still oil in it - and is it usable?

[Hobbyst46]

I would polish it carefully using toothpaste or even a dedicated silverware polish and coat it with lacquer - perhaps an item for display in a science museum.

[MicroBob]

Thank you for showing the part and the history behind it, apochronaut!
At this point of time the light microscope had been an important research intrument for some decades and the work of Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur had depended on the invention of the homogenous oil immersion. I can imagine that an immersion oil bottle was appreciated much more than today and this is reflected in the beautiful workmanship of you bottle. A porcupine quill!

I didn't know about the possible take-over of the Zeiss company in this time. This adds to the especially interesting history of this company. It also shows that Abbes idea of the Carl Zeiss foundation was probably more important than it is visible on the first look.

If you have more items like this I would be happy if you show one from time to time. I myself try to keep away from collecting but I always like to look at collections.

[MichaelG.]

What an elegant and useful thing that is !!

Thanks for sharing the photos and the historical details.

MichaelG.

[apochronaut]

No oil. It isn't designed as a no spill bottle. The dipper knob rests snuggly enough on it's toric shaped seat, and probably resists evaporation but it isn't a leak proof seal. There was probably a leather or cork liner in the cap, that pressed the knob gently down. As it is, it is able to rattle around, when the bottle is moved.